Saturday, March 28, 2009

Dead America

On the topic of DEAD AMERICA (see post below) -- totally forgotten/overlooked anarcho-crust-grind-something band from early to mid-90's Costa Mesa.

Around '93, Jav, myself and a group of like-mindeds hung out at Taco Bell on 17th and Newport Blvd buying cheap burritos, skateboarding, vandalizing things, and doing whatever else one does when they're bored youth looking to "Up The Punx". We started seeing these dudes with dreads, upside down flags, piercings, a lot of black-and-white-band patches. In our 16 year old minds, these dudes were the real deal. As there weren't a lot of punks in the area at the time, we became friends. They gave us their demo and we were stoked. Looking back they were likely the first people I personally knew who were in a band with any sort of release. Over the years, we used to see each other around a lot, particularly at Dystopia-Phobia-Neurosis-Mindrot type shows.

As mentioned, a demo was released around '93 which was on the crust-punk side of things (I think?) At some point they had a member of Phobia. Around '96 (give or take), they released a CD called "Bleed The Human Heart" on Half-Life Records, which I remember being more grind-y? I haven't seen or heard it in years. I'll upload the demo someday. If anyone has that CD get in touch.

I ran into the singer around Costa Mesa for years after -- Mexican restaurants, house parties, Mother's probably. We always recognized each other and made it a point to say hello.

Ha ha! That was the Hellbound House. I lived there at the time. Dead America played with Dystopia, Deface, Divisia and Slingshot. They guys showed up almost a week early and hung out. On the day of the show, I came upstairs to Christian, the singer, fighting my sister in the living room! It was funny as Hell.

i dated paul, one of the guitarists, and we were best friends for years after breaking up. i found out that he just passed away on valentines day this year, 2014. i found this article while looking for stuff to send his mom. i have the first release, and the never released 2nd album.